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Book of the Week »

Wild Mittens &amp; Unruly Socks

We chat to Lumi, give you a chance to win the book and learn how-to knit Merry Skull Socks.

I'm Lumi Karmitsa, a Finnish knitwear designer and an author of three knitting books. Since the publication of my first book in 2016 I've been living in a tiny old house in the Finnish countryside with my loyal companion Caleb the dog. My days consist of taking long walks with Caleb, reading, writing and doing all sorts of crazy crafts but mostly I just knit, knit, knit. I lead a quiet life and consider myself lucky for being able to do so.

Recreate the house of Buddy from the movie Elf in #DIYTheRoom with Cassie Fairy from My Thrifty Life.

When Buddy The Elf came to New York City and joined his new family in their apartment, he filled it with Christmas spirit (and countless decorations) overnight. Buddy is a skilled papercrafter and easily filled a whole apartment (and department store, for that matter!) with cut-out snowflakes and paperchains. I like to think that he would have made these quilled snowflakes too, if he’d had more than just one night to do all the decorating. And, like all good elves, I bet Buddy would be able to make these origami Christmas trees too. If he needed some baubles to decorate the Christmas tree, he’d be able to make these paper ones in no time at all. Buddy could only use the things that the family already had in the home to make his decorations, so I think he would have made some star decorations from the supplies in his Dad’s office, such as scissors and rulers. Even some of the books from the publishing house that his Dad works for would get a festive makeover – and be turned into a Christmas tree to sit alongside a glowing paper village! The bathroom was another source of craft supplies – the loo roll centre could be used to make a star for the top of the tree. And the jigsaw puzzles in the home would all be missing a few pieces after Buddy used them to make decorations for the tree that looked like North Pole snowflakes. A few paper bags and some pegs were all Buddy needed to make a DIY advent calendar to count down the days until Santa came to visit. This snowball tree decoration is the perfect centrepiece for the kitchen table (where buddy usually covers spaghetti with syrup and chocolate!) and brings some twinkling festiveness into the dining area. Buddy doesn’t like his morning cup of coffee, but enjoyed it a lot more after adding syrup to “the world’s best cup of coffee” so I think he’d like this gingerbread latte recipe too.

Book of the Week »

Crocheted Cactuses

We chat to Sarah, give you a chance to win the book and learn how-to crochet an Echinocereus Schereri cactus.

Hello everybody, my name is Sarah. At work, I am a design-engineer. At home, I am a wife and a mother of 2 funny and lovely kids. Besides that, I am a complete crochet addict. I never leave the house without yarn and a crochet hook. I never waste time because I can crochet everywhere. At the train station, on the train, in the car (when I’m not driving :-P) and of course at home.